Pagination and column sorting

If you do an orderBy in query all records are sorted. If you want to sort only the result of pagination you must use sortBy on the collection :

$child = Child::paginate(10)->sortBy($order);

@bestmono When I use your solution I get the following error: Call to undefined method Illuminate\Support\Collection::links()

Try this http://laravelsnippets.com/snippets/fluent-sorting-and-pagination-on-repositories

Edit because bad test.

The sort breaks the links so you must get them before :

$child = Child::paginate(10);
$links = $child->links();
$child = $child->sortBy($order);

But you must send $links to the view and edit for the links :

{{ $links }}

after paginate() try to getCollection() and sorting, it's should be similar "crazy pagination" video trick. https://laracasts.com/lessons/crazy-simple-pagination

@davidlm75 Don't you want it to sort the whole table? If I am on the first page, and sort by name, it should have A on that first page and Z should be on the very last page of results... that is typically how sorting would work....

@nfauchelle That's what I'm attempting to do, however when I change pages the sort reverts back to the default.

 @if($sortby == 'childfirstname' && $order == 'asc'){{
                link_to_action(
                'ChildController@index',
                'First Name',
                  array(
                    'sortby' => 'childfirstname',
                    'order' => 'desc'
                  )
                )
            }}
            
            @else {{
              link_to_action(
              'ChildController@index',
              'First Name',
                array(
                  'sortby' => 'childfirstname',
                  'order' => 'asc'
                )
              )
            }}
            
            @endif 

   $order = Input::get('order');
   $sortby = Input::get('sortby');
   
   
   if($sortby && $order) 
   {
     $child = Child::orderBy($sortby, $order)->paginate(10);
   }else{
     $child = Child::paginate(10);
   }

   return View::make('childinfo.index', compact('child','sortby', 'order'));

You lose the order parameters in links. You must append them. Look at the documentation.

I appreciate the help but none of this has worked for me. I've read the documentation, scoured the internet for a solution with no luck. The documentation seems to be vague in many areas and I learn from trial and error. I will continue to look for a solution.

Change your code :

if($sortby && $order) 
{
   $child = Child::orderBy($sortby, $order)->paginate(10);
   $links = $child->appends(['sortby' => $sortby, 'order' => $order])->links();
} else {
   $child = Child::paginate(10);
   $links = '';
}
return View::make('childinfo.index', compact('child','sortby', 'order', 'links'));

In your view you have your links like that :

{{ $child->links() }}

Change for :

{{ $links }}

Must work like that...

@bestmomo the only snippet of code I needed to change was

$links = '';

to:

$links = $child->links();

The pagination wasn't displaying using $links = '';

Anyhow the code now works the way expected.